In the Grey (26 page)

An SSG officer appeared in
front of Leena. He gave her a nod and used a key to open a side
door. She and Vince went into the hallway. Leena moved through the
hallway and took a quick left into the women’s bathroom. She opened
the double-hung window in the last stall. She scooted out of the
room.

“
Got it,” Max
said.

He pointed to the
closed-circuit security feed on his computer. Leena left the
bathroom and met Vince in the hallway. Vince smiled and held out
his arm. They entered the banquet as a lovely American couple
attending an awards ceremony. They stopped for a moment at the edge
of the banquet floor to gain their bearings. There were hundreds of
round tables draped with pristine white table clothes on the floor.
Vince whispered in Leena’s ear, and she gave him a blushing smile.
They made their way toward the front where the secretary of state
was sitting.

Max switched the closed
circuit camera feed, and they watched White Boy, Margaret, and
Joseph enter the women’s bathroom through the window Leena had
opened. The men left the bathroom and went into the hall. Margaret
waited a few minutes, before following them.

“
Sergeant Dusty?” Raz
asked.

“
Yes, sir,” Dusty
said.

“
I see what looks like
three, maybe four, people moving toward the building from the
west,” Raz said.

There was a pat-pat report
of a machine gun.

“
That is not them,” Raz
said. “They are nearing the building from the west.”

“
On it,” MJ
said.

“
Captain Jan?” Alex asked
Raz. He clicked her headset over to Captain Jan’s audio feed and
nodded. “Sir, we have what looks like five or six people moving
toward the hall on your west side.”

“
We are taking gun fire
from our north,” Captain Jan said in his London accent.

“
Northeast, top of
building,” Raz said. “One person. He’s switching to a sniper
rifle.”

The SSG leader gave two of
his men orders in Arabic.

“
MJ?” Alex
asked.

“
Ugly,” MJ said. “Looks
like we have a few more party crashers from the south.”

“
Did you hear that?” Alex
asked Captain Jan.

“
On it,” Captain Jan
said.

“
You’d better see this,”
Max said.

Alex turned to look at the
closed circuit feed on Max’s computer. Inside the event, Leena and
Vince neared the secretary of state’s table. Leena made a show of
realizing the secretary was there. She tugged Vince toward the
table.

“
Leena?” the secretary of
state stood to greet her. They heard her voice over Leena’s video
connection. “What are you doing here?”

“
We were in the area and
wanted to see you receive your award,” Leena said.

Vince rested his hand on
the back of the captor-bodyguard seated on the secretary of state’s
left. The man slumped forward. Vince tucked the small autoinjector
into his pants pocket. Joseph joined them.

“
This has been the
strangest night,” the secretary of state said in a low tone to
Leena. The secretary of state nodded to Joseph.

“
Did you see Vince?” Leena
asked. “He’s wearing a tux!”

“
Captain Hutchins!” the
secretary of state turned to greet him. “How is your baby
girl?”

“
My girls are well,” Vince
smiled. He put his hand on the secretary’s forearm. “Would you like
to see some photos?”

“
Of course!” the secretary
of state took a step toward them.

Her remaining
captor-bodyguard got up from his seat. Joseph stuck two acupuncture
needles just under the back of his scalp. The man weaved and Joseph
helped him into his seat.

The secretary looked at
the man, and then at Joseph.

“
Captain Walters, it’s
always a pleasure,” She plastered on a well-practiced
smile.

“
Pleasure is always mine,”
Joseph said.

“
Did you bring those
photos on your phone?” the secretary asked Vince. She took out her
Blackberry. “My phone hasn’t been working.”

She held the phone out to
Leena. The words “husband” and “daughter” were typed on her
screen.

“
I love that picture,”
Leena smiled. “It reminds me of when I visited my boss’s parents’
home in Washington.”

The secretary put her hand
to her heart and Leena gave her a carefree smile. When they’d
learned the secretary of state was in danger, they’d invited her
family and a team of Marines to join Rebecca Hargreaves at her home
outside of Washington DC.

“
You know, I was just
about to find a restroom when we noticed you here,” Leena
said.

“
I could use a break,” the
secretary said.

“
Honey, do you mind if I
help Madam Secretary?” Leena turned to Vince.

“
I’ll walk you,” Vince
smiled. He held out his elbow and the secretary took it.

“
How old is your girl
now?” the secretary asked.

They walked past Margaret
and she detained the man who was following them. A US Marine
dressed as a server stepped in behind the secretary.

“
Amelia?” Vince smiled.
“She’s sixteen, can you believe it?”

“
I saw her with her
granddad Gerry in Las Vegas for her sweet sixteen,” the secretary
said.

Leena’s video recorder
picked up a grunt coming from behind them. The secretary looked
worried. The closed-circuit cameras showed White Boy easily
dispatch a man who had moved to stop them.

“
I didn’t realize you were
there,” Vince said.

“
I dropped in late,” the
secretary said. “I had to meet the French boyfriend with the
storied parentage.”

Vince shook his
head.

“
They grow up fast,” the
secretary said. “I’ve seen photos of baby Zoe. How is Emily holding
up?”

“
Emmy?” Vince smiled.
“She’s as beautiful as she was the day I met her.”

The secretary
smiled.

“
And don’t think I’ve
forgotten you, Leena,” the secretary said. “How is your lovely
girl?”

“
Fabulous,” Leena pushed
open the bathroom door. “We had such a nice time with your family
in Vail. Thank you for inviting us.”

“
Of course,” the secretary
said.

“
I’ll leave you here,”
Vince said.

The secretary squeezed his
arm and followed Leena into the bathroom.

“
Leena!” Alex screamed as
a man jumped out from a stall.

Leena pushed the secretary
behind her and crouched to fight. From the position of her video
camera, they could only see the man swing and react to Leena. He
swung wide, and then weaved in response to Leena’s flurry of
punches. He hit the wall and Leena landed a beautiful kick. When he
fell to the ground, Leena grabbed the secretary’s hand. They ran to
the last stall. Sergeant Dusty helped them through the
window.

“
Awaiting orders, sir,”
Leena said.

Alex looked across the
helicopter at Matthew. He was giving the order for the rest of the
team to evacuate. MJ entered Leena’s video feed from around the
corner. He tossed a handgun at Leena. She caught the weapon mid-air
and chambered a round.

“
Can you turn the phoenix
over to the SSG?” Alex asked.

“
Negative, sir,” MJ said.
“Party crashers are taking most of the SSG’s time.”

Alex glanced at
Raz.

“
It looks intentional,”
Raz said. “A distraction.”

“
You’ve just solved the
problem of how to get the secretary out of Pakistan,” Max
said.

“
On guard,” Alex said.
“You’re going to have to fight your way out of there.”

“
Yes, sir,” Leena, MJ, and
Dusty said.

“
Zack?” Alex turned to
Raz. “Can he hear me?”

“
Yes, my Fey,” Zack
said.

“
Get them out of there,”
Alex said.

“
Your wish is
my . . . ,” Zack said. “Holy crap!”

“
Should we call in the
grunts?” Raz asked whether they should call in a unit of Marines,
who were waiting for their command across the border in
Afghanistan.

“
Wait,” Alex said. “Feed,
Zack?”

Alex’s laptop flickered
and a small box opened with the video feed from the helicopter.
From Zack’s position above and to the south of the hall, they could
see a battle erupt around the awards hall. The SSG were actively
engaged in a firefight on the west side of the building. Two open
bed trucks filled with angry young men carrying machine guns
squealed into the banquet hall’s parking lot near the Fey
Team.

White Boy joined Leena,
MJ, and Sergeant Dusty. He took a machine gun from under his
jacket. He shot out the tires of the trucks. The trucks skid to a
halt about a hundred feet from the hall. The men fired from the bed
of the truck. Two men took cover behind the truck doors and fired
through the open windows. Four US Marines dressed as servers joined
the firefight. Leena and Sergeant Dusty kept the secretary of state
pressed against the building while White Boy fired on the men in
the truck.

“
Joseph?” Alex
asked.

“
A little busy,” Joseph
yelled.

Max pointed to the
closed-circuit security feed. The dining room had erupted in
hand-to-hand combat. Couples hid under tables while the US Marines
dressed as servers fought with the men who had come for the
secretary of state. Max tapped the screen. Crouched under one of
the tables was Hank Zutterberg. After graduated with Alex from
Special Forces training, Zutterberg left the Army on a medical
discharge only to start a unit with a military contractor. Alex
shook her head. She caught Matthew’s eye.

“
Zutterberg,” Alex
said.

“
Hiding like a baby,”
Matthew said. “I saw him.”

“
Wouldn’t want to hurt his
baby toe,” Tory said.

“
We could use some help
here,” Joseph said over the feed.

Max switched the
closed-circuit feed to show Joseph and Margaret were locked in
combat in the hall.

“
MJ!” Alex said.
“Hallway.”

MJ jumped through the
window and whipped into the hallway. He wasn’t a precise fighter.
Like his father, MJ was a crazy whirl in a fight. He grabbed one
man and kicked an automatic weapon from the hands of another. He
threw the man he was holding into the man Margaret was fighting.
Tangled in each other, the men fell to the ground.

“
Come on,” MJ said to
Margaret and Joseph.

They ran out to the
parking lot. A Pave Hawk came into view.

“
Fey Team down,” Alex
yelled.

Leena and Sergeant Dusty
used their bodies to cover the secretary of state while MJ, Joseph,
Vince, Margaret, and White Boy dropped to the ground. Zack shot at
the men in the trucks. They scattered. The team regrouped around
the secretary of state.

Zack shot a missile at the
vehicle the remaining men were using for cover. The truck blew into
pieces, showering everyone with shards of metal. Zack landed the
Pave Hawk in front of Leena and Dusty to shield the secretary of
state from the truck fire.

“
Go,” Alex said.
“Now.”

Leena and Dusty ran to the
Pave Hawk with the secretary of state. Vince and White Boy helped
the secretary of state into the helicopter. Margaret guide the
secretary of state to a seat and Leena buckled her into her seat.
MJ and Joseph were the last inside.

The helicopter rose off
the parking lot with the doors open. MJ grabbed a machine gun and
tossed it to Dusty. They fired on the men the SSG were fighting.
White Boy dropped down into the seat next to the secretary to
protect her. Vince grabbed a rifle and moved behind Dusty. Margaret
fired her rifle from her position behind MJ. Flying directly above
the banquet hall, they were able to turn the tide for the
SSG.

“
Whoo hooo!” Zack yelled.
“Curry is on you, Ahmed.”

“
That’s Captain to you,
you crazy fucker,” Captain Jan said.

“
You’re still buying,”
Zack laughed.

From Leena’s feed, they
saw Vince and Dusty close the Pave Hawk door.

“
Zack?” Alex yelled to get
his attention.

“
Yes, sir,” Zack
said.

“
Drive safely,” Alex
said.

“
Be home for supper,” Zack
said. “Out.”

“
Joseph?” Alex
asked.

“
The phoenix is aboard; we
are away,” Joseph said.

In the background, Alex
heard the beginning chords to “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the
Magnetic Zeros play in Zack’s Pave Hawk. The Fey Team whistled
along with the beginning bars.

“
Well done, Fey Team!”
Alex said. “Out.”

Max closed his computer.
Alex checked Raz’s scans before closing her computer and looking
up. She leaned back in her seat.